Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.
When ever something we hope for is delayed, our reaction to it is one of mental and possibly even physical sickness.
On the other hand whenever that same something finally arrives, it is almost better that you had it delayed in the first place.
For instance, imagine a couple are planning to spend some time together – let’s say its their anniversary – a once a year treat – and they travel to have some quality time together. A little short of their destination they break down, just managing to pull off the main road and limp into an abandoned car park. They call for recovery but they will have to wait sometime, most of the day it turns out and probably too long to be able make use of a hire car option. Hope deferred. They open their gifts to one another in the car and try to make the most of things. It’s a far cry from their hopes of the day. Finally the breakdown vehicle arrives and tows them back home.
But wait – with less than 5 minutes to spare they arrive at the car hire premises and within 10 minutes they are back on the road, back-on-track and hope is back on the table. 12 hours after they originally set out, they arrive. Desire fulfilled. And not just any desire fulfilled, this is a set of circumstances that will not only sustain them for the moment but for the rest of their lives. The adversity made it all the more enjoyable in the long run.
The converse is also true. Whenever you hope for something and get it on time and within the frame of your initial expectations – it makes you happy. But since you didn’t have to deal with any delay, there’s no real lasting benefit.
Extremely pertinent don’t you think, in a world of instant gratification? And as shrewd as we may have been in our society at disguising this reality with our modern lifestyles, every now again stuff happens.
No Hope
Of course our backstory as Gentiles is that we had no hope whatsoever.
Aliens, strangers, having no hope, and without God in the world:
Eph 2.12
I spoke with a man last Lord’s Day evening who had no hope. He stated plainly to me that he believed that death was the end – pointing to the ground. He was completely alien to the grace of God, a complete stranger to faith, having no hope and without God. But for God’s grace, there go I.
Living Hope
Blessed be God…which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us…to a living hope.
1 Peter 1.3
How marvellous it is that we now have a living hope. Many hopes materialise a temporary happiness, like those Christmas gifts that broke when you opened them. How quickly they vanished. But our hope is a tree of life, it keeps giving, it keeps replenishing, providing. It is a tree of life, as the Proverbs put it. Anything that has power over the grave and guarantees a secure endowment in a world blighted by death and wasted fortunes provides true hope.
Blessed Hope
waiting for our blessed hope, and the appearing of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Titus 2.13
Where will we find this kind of hope? Not in this world. All my investments in this world will bring fleeting pleasure. The more we go after them, the more sick we will be. They promise much but deliver little. But waiting for our blessed hope is a hope which, when fulfilled, will be a tree of life.
You remember the two on the road to Emmaus. Luke records them as having said, “we trusted [had hoped] that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel.” Their hope had been deferred and they were sick. They had no hope. Hours later their hearts were burning within them as they talked with Christ and their hope became fulfilled. It was almost better that they had their hope deferred in the first place. They now had living hope.
May God grant us to keep looking forward, waiting for that blessed hope to materialise. As sure as the hope for these two did, so ours will too.
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